"Sanmao was a little boy with no mother or father who had to look after himself in the cruel world of Shanghai in the old days. In real life many boys and girls like Sanmao died in the streets from hunger or illness. Sanmao was a survivor. Despite all the hardships he always found a way of carrying on ... These cartoons, which are some of the best known and best loved in China, were first published from 1947 onwards during the dark years of civil war that followed the Japanese surrender in 1945 and ended when the People's Liberation Army entered the city in the spring of 1949. Since then Sanmao has been a household name in China, and his adventures have also been turned into a film."--Introduction.